Category

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Black and White in colour : Segregation In 1956 South Carolina

Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Here, in striking
color photographs that, at times, convey an unsettling intimacy, Bourke-White’s
work opens a window on an era that, for better and for worse, helped define
20th century America. There is courage to be found here, and dignity and a
cruelty that — in the guise of a patronizing benevolence — shaped the
destinies of black and white America for decades, and still echoes in our
national conversation today.

The “Voices of the White South” article, which won praise
and awards when published, was extraordinary for, among other things, the
utterly non-sensational methodology and tone of its reportage. While much of
the national debate over desegregation was dominated in the mid-1950s by the
language and actions of strident and often hateful zealots, “Voices” was a
measured take on the entire issue. Far from emphasizing its own
pro-integrationist sensibility, LIFE allowed Southerners to discuss their own
pro-segregationist views — in their own words, at length — and
created a portrait of the South far more nuanced than the depiction usually
found in the liberal “Yankee” press. The article was not, in the end, an
anti-segregationist screed, but instead an honest glimpse into the heart of a
culture proud of its utterly fraught heritage, and terrified of what the future
might hold.